Message from the Principal

Dear Boght Families,

We have started December strong and everyone is working hard to make our last month of 2018 very productive! I have a few reminders and updates as we close out the year. Please take a moment to read below, review the calendar, and look over all the announcements. As always, if you have any questions please reach out to us directly.

Happy Holidays,

Mr. Puccioni

Holiday Parties: Our Winter Class Parties will be here soon. Please remember that all food items must be store bought, nut-free, and contain a label. In addition, if an adult wished to attend the class party they must have RSVP’d and received confirmation from the classroom teacher. This year, as discussed at Open House, we are strictly enforcing our 1-1-1 policy for the BIG3. Each Boght Hills student can have one adult attend one of the three class parties (Fall, Winter, Valentines). If an adult already attended the Fall Party, then an adult from the student’s family cannot attend the Winter Party.

Recess: Thank you to everyone for sending in cold weather gear each day (boots, snow pants, hats, mittens, etc.). We have been limited in outdoor options due to construction and the wetter than normal field conditions. We are working to get the students outside each day for fresh air and have set up a variety of games on available surfaces. As the weather continues to cool, we anticipate use of the field again soon. We have set some additional expectations for conduct at recess due to space limitations, proximity to classrooms, and materials. The students have been very receptive.

Arrival & Dismissal: We have added another layer to our dismissal procedure for our youngest students. Going forward all K and 1st grade students will be called to buses prior to our 2-6 students. This will give them time to navigate a less crowded hallway to their appropriate bus. We have also color-coded the bus signs that staff members display at dismissal and attached color-coded tags to backpacks of K and 1 students. Additionally, we will be talking to students in classrooms about what to do if one finds oneself in an unfamiliar situation at dismissal (e.g. cannot see bus, boards wrong bus, does not see adult scheduled to meet at bus stop). We are going to encourage students to speak up and stay put. We will explain to students that if they are unsure, they should seek out an adult and tell them – speak up. We will also explain that if things do not seem right they should stay put; it is safer to remain at school or on the bus than potentially going to the wrong place. If you have any questions, please reach out to me directly.

Safe, Respectful, Responsible: As the year progresses we will continue to speak to students about our school wide expectations of safety, respect, and responsibility. In the coming weeks I will be stressing the importance of behavior at lunch and recess, and following adult directions the first time no matter the setting.

Calendar of Events

Community News

We have a small food pantry from which your family may select some non-perishable items, as well as some personal hygiene items, if needed. We, also, have some school supplies available. We hope to grow this confidential program over time, as our current quantities are limited. If you can make use of this opportunity, or know a family in need, please call Mr. Puccioni at 518-785-0222, or email marcuspuccioni@ncolonie.org. He will make arrangements to meet you for assistance. If you would like to contribute to our pantry, please feel free to contact her as well. The entire Boght Hills community is incredibly generous and we are happy to offer our help any time a need arises. We hope we can assist you or someone you love.

Winter Weather

On recess days, it is especially important that our students come to school dressed warmly. Except in cases of extreme weather, we make every effort to get the children outside for their playtime. Fresh air is good for them and in order to help your child enjoy this time, they should be dressed appropriately. Hats are especially important—a warm head helps the rest of the body stay warm. Please make sure your child has gloves or mittens and label all clothing with your child’s name and class.

It might be a good idea for children to have a change of clothing in their cubbies or lockers in case they become wet from snow, water, or mud. An extra pair of socks is always appreciated when you have wet, cold feet.

Our rules for snow are very simple. To have full use of the whole playground, students must have boots, snow pants or an extra pair of pants over their clothes. If students do not have boots, they have to remain on the blacktop area of the playground. This practice will be strictly enforced for the health and comfort of our students.

If something is occasionally forgotten, we do have a limited amount of items for borrowing for that day. We will not have enough to share if your child is borrowing every day. If you are in need of these items, please let us know and we will see what we can do to help you out.

Weather-related Delays: All school closures or delays will be announced as North Colonie Central School, not as Boght Hills School.

When a decision is made to close or delay school, an announcement will appear on all major television channels. If you have not signed up for School Messenger on the district website, please consider doing so before bad weather occurs. Closing/delay information will be sent to directly to your cell phone or email address.

Parents of youngsters attending the CYC after school program are also reminded that if school closes early due to inclement weather, the program will not be in operation. All students who normally attend CYC will follow their predetermined emergency plan. Please be sure your child knows what this plan is, so there is no confusion during dismissal. Notification of changes to the school schedule will be delivered via School Messenger or the school website. No phone chain calls will be made.

Library News

Access our catalog, Destiny Discover, to look up library books and see if they are checked in

Connect to Overdrive to browse ebooks (student accounts are username@nccsk12.org)

Go to the library databases

The databases contain a variety of information, topics, images and activities in a range of reading levels, grade levels and interests. Some of the databases available through the library catalog include:

Power Knowledge – articles relating to life science, earth/space science, and physical science

World Book Encyclopedia – contains articles with many interactive features

TrueFlix – nonfiction ebooks with related videos and activities

ScienceFlix – science topics, news, careers, and experiments

Note: Database access at home requires a user name/password for each database. Students will receive a bookmark with that information.

During library class, students in grades 4-6 reviewed the use and navigation of the library page and online catalog. Third graders will learn more about the catalog during December. Ask them to give you a tour! You can access the library page with younger students to see what is available to them during book selection time, as well as to connect to databases.

Enjoy exploring some of the wonderful resources available at the Boght Hills Library!

Ms. Wallace, Librarian

Math League

The fifth and sixth grade Math League is underway for 2018-2019! Our first meet was in October. Math League meets once each month through May. During each meet, teams of students will work together to solve math problems. The scores are posted in the fifth and sixth grade wing after each meet so that the teams can check their standings. These are the teams for this year:

Colt Calculators

Pranjal Yadav

Madi Fosmire

Thomas Polemeropoulos

Shrijan Sharma

Naisha Majmudar

Emily Yang

Sam Bermudez

Demolishing Decimals

Bowen Yu

Mihika Samavedam

Regan Morrissey

Samantha Trombley

Jeanette Bermejo

Ryan Fredrick

Gavin Bailie

Digit Dividers

Clayton Koonce

Samantha Zitofsky

Sakthi Jagannath

Prathik Gullapalli

Kulsum Syed

Isabel Yang

Christiano Logrippo

Exponent Experts

Namrish Karthik

DJ Cioffi

Clare Cunningham

Lily Maynard

Joshua Nystoriak

Surabhi Krishnan

Hari Yoganathan

Master Multipliers

Zainab Raja

Andrew Liu

Alyssa Caiano

Yunhan Chen

Tessa Carroll

Sabrina Koa

Ryan Isernia

Math Masters

Joshua August

Jordan Prusky

Allison Wu

Pranali Rodda

Aditya Singh

Marina Serdyuk

Deepak Kilaparty

Math “Wizardsss”

Harsha Kota

Alexa Tahoe

Junggyun Park

Dilshan Wehella-Gamage

Ashlynn Phoenix

Arianna Castracanni

The Number Nerds

Mavrick LaBoy

Saad Ashar

Molly McKinney

Brodie Garland

Lucas Zhang

Arianna Hoffman

Ethan Williams

Numerator Nerds

Krithi Pala

Iris Chang

Victoria Raghubar

Jayden Miranda

Ishita Parihar

Surya Bommasani

Mya Enders

Rad Rational #’s

Jamison Butler

Devraj Singh

Ezzah Atif

Srihith Nelapati

Katharine Wheeler

Haein Park

Varun Chaganti

“SaSplat” Mathematicians

Suhana Kiran

Alex Raghubar

Sriman Iyer

Praharsh Muthyala

Lauren Knapp

Ava Pacifico

Tanner Donavan

Subtraction Smarties

Ali Arif

Divyansh Pramanick

Katelyn Scorzelli

Sriamsh Nelapati

Akshara Chamakura

Charlie Dague

Rosa Tropiano

The December math meet will be held on Tuesday, December 11 from 3:00-3:45 p.m.

Mrs. Fitzpatrick and Ms. Wallace

The Boght Hills Holiday Gift Drive

Our annual Holiday Gift Drive will run from Monday, December 3 to Friday, December 14. The purpose of the Holiday Gift Drive is to enable anyone to donate new clothes, toys, books, etc. to a family in need. These gifts will be for families from Boght Hills, as well as, other families in the North Colonie school system. The gifts donated will fulfill the requests of the children and their families.

Any families interested in participating should:

Have his/her parent sign the bottom of this form and return it to Sari VanSleet in her office. At that time, they will be given a gift tag (s) to bring home. You may request more than one tag.

Wrap gift. Peel and stick adhesive tag to gift. This tag must be attached to the gift as a sticker because we will be covering it with another tag later.

Return the gift(s) to Mrs. V no later than Friday, December 14.

Please be aware we will send home the tags you requested with your child as soon as possible, but it may not be the same day. Please allow a couple of days for us to complete the process.

As always, thank you for your support. If you have any questions please contact Mrs. VanSleet at 518-785-0222 or svansleet@ncolonie.org.

Child’s Name ______________________ Child’s Teacher____________

I give my permission for my child to take _________ tag(s) for the Kindness Connection Holiday Gift Drive (# of tags)

Parent/Guardian Signature_____________________________________

Important Safety Measures

Our school is always locked while students and staff are present. Visitors must ring the doorbell and state their name and purpose for the visit. The door will be unlocked by office staff between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Please come directly to the office, be prepared to show identification, and sign the visitors’ log. Visitors are only permitted to go the location for which they have signed in. Parents/guardians should not escort their children to homeroom and should wait in the lobby at dismissal.

Prior to 7:30 a.m., and subsequent to 3:30 p.m., there is no access to the building without a pre-arranged agreement. If you are authorized to pick up a student from an after school event, please be prepared to wait outside until the event coordinator brings the students to the lobby to be dismissed directly to you in person. No adults or students shall allow access to visitors.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and understanding of any inconvenience this may cause. Your children’s safety is very important to us.

Health Office News

Notice regarding NYS mandated physical exam requirements:

Letters have been sent home to parents whose child does not have proof of a physical exam from his/her physician. NYS Education Law requires that each student receive a physical exam when entering the school district for the first time and then again in grades K, 2, 4, 7 and 10.

Current 6th grade students with “late” birthdays need to send in documentation from a physician that they received the Tdap vaccine. This must be done within fourteen days after their 11th birthday.

A few reminders:

Please do not send your child to school with a temperature of 100 or higher. They should be fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication before returning to school.

Please do not send your child to school if he/she has been vomiting or has had diarrhea during the night or early that morning. They must be symptom free for 24 hours.